COST OF LIVING

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22520, 30 September 1938, Page 9

COST OF LIVING

TO TBI EDITOR Or THE PRESS. Sir,—One of your correspondents, when replying to my letter in a recent issue of "The Press," says that in 1927 he bought a suit for £8 Bs, and is still wearing it. I now ask him how many working men can to-day afford to pay £8 8s for a suit. The high cost of living has compelled men to economise in many directions, and few, if any, are able to purchase other than cheap sports suits. The conditions in 1927 and before the Labour Government came into power were such that your correspondent, who admits that he is "only a country bumpkin," could buy suits at £8 Bs. If any further <evidence were needed to support my contention that living conditions to-day make it difficult for the worker to keep himself or his family in comfort, your correspondent, a Labour supporter, has supplied that evidence. Surely he must be an ostrich. He has put his head in the ground and made himself oblivious to what is going on round him. Regarding his challenge of £2O, 1 might say that if he has got that amount I would strongly advise him to keep quiet about the matter or else the Labour Government will pinch it from him, as it is doing with all the pin money saved up by the thrifty little housewife. If the Labour Government is returned to power the thrifty little housewife, the children of 16 years and over, the invalid, the pensioner, and everyone with a few pence, are going to be taxed heavily. The Labour Government gives with one hand and pinches it all back with the other.—Yours, etc., ANOTHER WORKING MAN. September 29, 1938.